Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Mommy of 2 -- Lesson # 3

Your child starts reading, now you better stop.

Your child has started reading, now she is reading books, she can read an entire book by herself, you are one proud Mom or Dad, you have a feeling of déjà vu BUT wait don't get too elated. There is a downside to this whole thing which might not have crossed your mind when you were desperately trying to teach her the difference between "C" in Cinderella and "C" in Cat.

Pros of Reading:

The child can read, reading is definitely a good habit, being a voracious reader myself I don't have enough words to say how reading can change one's life.

You no longer have to read your child a bed time story and so can utilize that time for better things like maybe blogging

If the older one reads, you might just get away reading a bed time story to the younger one. Yeah, delegate and so now the older one reads to the younger one. Yippeee!!!

Your child can now read road signs and give you directions from the back seat.

Cons of Reading (not to be taken seriously) :

You no longer can read whatever you want. If you are the kind of person who has hoity-toity coffee table books and cheap romantic trash in the bedroom, your life is doomed. You wouldn't like it if your 5 year old picks up one of those and reads a page aloud...ahem

You can no longer take her and roam freely through all aisles of the Super Market, you never know what might spring up. I suggest keep away from aisles labeled "Feminine Hygiene" and such

You can no longer write a blog where you exaggerate and basically write stuff which might not be exactly true to life, small deviations like "I made Chicken Curry yesterday" might make her comment, "No, you did not make it yesterday, it was 2 days back"

She peers over your shoulder while you type and suggests that you put her stuff on the blog too, so your personal space is no longer yours now.

Since Big Sis S started reading fluently a year back, I have to be more careful around her at home. More than her own books, she is interested in reading my e-mail or the bills or even Toys R Us fliers and at times my blog. She does read to her sis, which is a good thing though

Last snow day, when we all were at home, she baked some cookies and wanted them to be put on my blog. I am no baker and we made the cookies from Betty Crocker Cookie Mix, it didn't matter she still wants it on the blog.

We also used up our time that day by making a book. I cut up some of her old daily sheets (we reuse all such papers by using them for printing, drawing, writing etc.) and she made a book with a story and illustration. The book was much liked by her teacher and classmates. When she had first started reading books, she would read every page from the cover to back, including the author, publisher, illustrator, etc. and in the right order. She has gotten over that now but she insists on writing "By S...." in the cover page and insists that she is an author.

Also here are some of her recent drawings. Check out Dora in high heels.The little girl might object to some of the above things I have written, but come on there is something called the author's license

On another note, to get your kids interested in reading try these

Start early (as in once they recognize alphabets) and ask her to read out aloud and sound out letters when you are at the store, on the road where ever

Get those fridge letter magnets and form words with them which she can read. This can be done any time, all the time.

You need to read to at least initiate her interest. If you don't have any books at home or a reading atmosphere, and ask her to sit and read that won't help a whole lot. Once she is into it, go watch your TV

Go to the library or the bookstore and spend time browsing, borrowing, reading.

Ask her to read and write your grocery list to show how reading is incorporated in daily life. She will get a kick out of writing and reading simple words like Milk, Egg etc.

Ask her to read instructions of her new game, the card she has received, her school calendar which shows the "pizza day"

And again each child will read, write, do whatever at their own pace, don't rush and be patient.

Lol, I can identify with the scenario in your house 150%, and li'l S sounds exactly like my R. A is a voracious reader too, but doesn't like to write that much, unless it's got something to with science.

Keep it up li'l S, and as for you, big S, yes,once they're interested, it only get's better :-)

Yes the joys of little ones reading. DD2 is there now, reading everything and anything she can get hold of. From begging us to read to reading by herself she is one proud cookie. As for the cookies she baked they look shall we say better than mom's. Oh! common Sandeepa I just used commenters license.

what a perfect lil angel she is! :):) The pics are priceless, esp Dora in high-heels! :):)Sandeepa, I got your msg and thanks a ton. My mom said the same as well..not to add the milk all at once. I shall try it on saturday.

Loved ur post Sandeepa! I am with u. DD1 is way beyond needing us anymore for the last few years, but always over my shoulder esp. when i am blogging! so annoying.& we have stapled a lot of those stories & pictures, even one of every season & festival. those are treasures.

oh thats sweet! Big s is wonderful and I love her drawings and the idea of making her own story book is fantastic! Please let her read this comment! Hi Big S, you are such a talented kid and I wish you be a great writer in future! Kep it up! And the cookies are looking great! Hop they tasted great too!

I am a new mom and am trying to learn as much as I can on "dummies guide to bring up your child". I loved your post. I am a voracious reader myself and have a decent collection of books. I read out fairy tales to my son and show him all the bright pictures. I hope he likes them and maybe develops some interest in reading. And I loved the cookies!!!

I understand your desperation to make me start a separate blog for Big Sis S, so that you don't have to read all that stuff here ;-) but trust me I am not going to share my page hits with the little mite.So she is going to be right here :)

But she is only 5, I cannot give her too much internet access right now. For now www.pbskids.org and startfall.com is the only URL she knows

Chox

I edited her reading, didn't give her a chance to read the whole thing, who knows she might just go looking for that trashy novel in my bedroom.

She was very happy to see pics of her stuff up there though

Indo I will block you next :D Haven't visited DD1's blog for a while, she wrote very well, DD2 will have a role model

Great tips there Sandeepa. My son is 17months old now and we try to read little books to him, but he still cannot concentrate. We were planning to get Baby Einstein books & dvds, do you think that will help him sit and learn?? Do you have any other suggestions? Appreciate your help.

Hey Sandeepa u're mistaken. Its not for reading Bug S's reading here as I could smell a competition here and if u start her own some/moe readers would become a big fan of that little angel :) BTW u an as well help to maintain her own blog but again there are lotsa other contraints only a Mom could know!

ha ha ha, San. I started reading when I was very young. infact most of the time to shut me up my parents would give me few books and I would sit in one corner and read for hours. I love to read but these days due to work pressure I am not able to do lots of reading as before. nothing can beat those hours of pleasure when u were young (not that i am calling myself old;) without any worry abt deadlines and rush hours.

He is too young, way too young to learn. He is just 17 months. You shouldn't even try to teach him reading or anything like that.I am not hugely experienced but at this age they learn from play I guess. You can read to him but expecting that he will listen and all is too much I feel :)

I did have some of those Baby Einstein DVD's, not to make my daughter learn anything, more to make her sit without wailing while I got some work done:D

Thanks for the 101 on Bong nomenclatures as well as reading for children! :)I am also a huge fan of children reading since I grew up loving books and still do. My four year old loves us reading to her and I can't wait to see her reading on her own- oh Wait! I just read your cons ;)

This was a good read. I have a daughter who used to call us both "bookworms" when she was 3! That is until she started disappearing between the pages of her books!!:D

The feminine hygiene thing was easy because she automatically assumed that grownups needed Pampers too! By the time she figured out, I had worked an acceptable (to her) for her. As for watching TV while they read, wait till they join you and start asking questions. Then you have to start watching what you watch on TV.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine